Fire-escape.



J. T. PAQUIN.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 1916.

1,2%3,839. Patented Oct. 16,1917.

, 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ATTORNEY J. T. PAQUiN.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.23. 1916.

Pamnted Oct. 16, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEY WITNESSES .rosnrn T. PAQUIN, or CLAREMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1 6, 1917.

Application filed March 23, 1916. Serial No. 86,191.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JosEPH T. PAQUIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Olaremont, in the county of Sullivan and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to av fire escape, and one object resides in providing fluid means for controlling the rate of descent and ascent of a cage for carrying persons.

Another object resides in providing means for starting and stopping the cage at the will of those within the same.

A further object consists in providing means which, when the cage is vacated, will return the same to its highest position for use again.

With the above and other objects in view, I will now proceed to describe the specific embodiment of my invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which:

Figure lis a side elevation of a fire escape constructed according to my invention applied to a building, but with the cage in section.

Fig. 2 is a detail view of the fluid controlled mechanism for regulating the rate of descent and ascent of the cage, and showstarting and stopping the cage from within the same.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the ratchet mechanism employed in connection with the fluidcontrolled mechanism, and

Fig. 5 is a central sectional view through one of the fluid cylinders.

The invention, as shown in the drawings, is applied to the side wall A of a building and consists ofbrackets 1 extending outwardly from said side wall at right angles and bolted thereto by means ofthe bolts 2. These brackets support two upright track members 3 having the flanges 4. At the top the said track members 3 are connected by a horizontal tie bar 5 which is bolted to brackets 6. One of the track members 3 carries, at the top, uprights 7 in which is journaled a shaft 8 carrying the centrally located grooved pulley 9, and also carrying at one end a fixed crank disk 10 and at the other end a loose crank disk 11. The crank disks 10 and 11 carry crank pins 12 and 13, re-

with the crank disk 11.

spectively, which are connected by means of the connecting rods 11 and 15 to piston rods 16 and 17 of pistons 18 and 19, respectively. The said pistons 18 and 19 work in cylinders 20 and 21 which are closed at both ends and the top and bottom of each cylinder is connected by passages 22 in which are located shut off valves 23 and flow regulating valves 2%. Thus it will be seen that as the pistons 18 and 19 reciprocate in said cylinders 20 and 21, respectively, the fluid within is merely pumped from oneend ofthe cylinder to the other or from in front of the piston to behind the same and vice versa. The fluid employed is a liquid such as water or oil and therefore the speed of reciprocation of the pistons may be regulated by restricting the flow through the passages 22, and this may be done by regulating the valves 24:.

Also, should it be desired to entirely prevent reciprocation of the pistons the valves 23 may be closed.

The crank disk 11, as before stated, is loosely mounted on the shaft 8. However, the shaft 8 has fixed thereto, adjacent the crank disk 11, a ratchet wheel 25 which is engaged by the'pawl 26 carried by the crank disk 11 and held in engagement by the spring 27 Thus when the shaft 8 rotates in one direction the pistons 18 and 19 will both come into play, whereas, when .the shaft 8- rotates in the other direction, only the piston 18 will come into :play by reason of the ratchet mechanism employed in connection Upon the cross member 5 are mounted two upright supports 28 and 29, thefformer of which is locatedimmediately adjacent an opening 30 in the cross member 5. Boththe upright supports 28 and 2-9 carry sheaves 31 and 32 respectively. A cable 33' ofvconsiderable length is passed over the groovedpulley 9 and underneath th'esheave 32 and thence over the sheave 31 and down through the opening 30, whence it connects-withan eyebolt 34 in the top of a passenger cage 35 which is provided with members 36 slidably engaging the flanges 4 of the track members 3. The other end of the said cable 33 carries a weight 37 which slightly overbalances the weight of the empty passenger carrying cage 35, and thus the latter will always be maintained in its highest position. Adjacent the bottom of the track member 3 nearest which the weight 37 is located, is provided an arm 38 which carries a pulley 39. A second pulley with passengers.

lating valves 2 L adjusted so as to 40 is located opposite to this pulley 39, and a cable tl is attached to the bottom of the passenger carrying cage 35 and runs over pulleys 10 and 39 and attaches the Weight 37 thus by pulling on the cable 41 the cage may be brought down due to the fact that such pull will overcome the overbalancing effect of the weight 37. r Y

The passenger carrying cage 35 is provided with an inwardly opening door d2 located in the wall of the cage adjacent the wall A. Within the cage is located a handwheel 13 which is carried by a spindle 44: threaded through the side of the cage adjacent one of the track members 3 and is provided with a shoe 415 for engagement with the flange l of said track member.- Therefore by turning up the hand-wheel 13 so as to engage the shoe as with the flange -1- the passenger carrying cage 35 may be brought to a stop or reduced in speed. Also this arrangement is used to hold the cage in its uppermost position until the same is loaded The operation is as follows:

Normally the valves 23 are open and regugive the proper ascent and descent speeds. The cage then, by reason of the overbalancing effect of the weight 37 is maintained in an upward position as shown in Fig. 1, and is locked in such position by the shoe 45 engaging the flange t. Suppose then, that passengers step into the cage 35, the overbalancing effect of the weight 37 would then be nullified by reason of the weight of the passengers in the cage. Thus as soon as the shoe 4:5 is released from engagement with :the flange 4: the cage will begin to descend,

such descent being very gradual due to the fact that both pistons 18 and 19 are operating by reason of the rotation of the shaft 8. However, once the cage is down and the passengers step out, the cage will'begin to ascend again due to the weight 37 and such ascent will be controlled by the operation of the piston 18, the piston 19 being idle during the ascent of the cage.

It will be seen that, by training the cable 33 beneath the sheave 32, when the cage 35 begins to descend or ascend an upward thrust will be imparted to said sheave 32 which will, at all times, guide and maintain the cable 33 in engagement with the pulley 9 so that no slippage ofthe cable 33 over said pulley can take place:

From the foregoing description, it will be evident that 1 have provided a simple fluidcontrolled fire escape which carries a'passenger carrying cage which may be started or stopped at any point from within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined:

in the appended claims.

I claim a 1 1. In a fire escape, the combination with va movable cage, of a shaft, a pulley fixed to said shaft, a cable passing over said pulley:

and supporting said cage, a disk fixed on said shaft, a disk'loosely' mounted on said shaft, a ratchet connection between said loose disk and said shaft whereby movement of said shaft in one direction will cause said loose disk to rotate, a cylinder for each disk, :1. piston in each cylinder, and a crank connecting the pistons with their respective disks, substantially as described.

2. In a fire escape, the combination with a movable cage, of a shaft, a bracketsupporting said shaft above said cage, a pulley afiixed to said shaft intermediate the ends of the latter, a disk fixed to said shaft at one end thereof, a disk loosely mounted on the other end of said shaft, a cylinder beneath each disk, a piston in each cylinder, a crank connecting each disk with its respective piston, a ratchet connection between saidloose disk and said shaft, and a cable passing over said pulley and supporting said cage, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI afix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH T. PAQUIN.

Vitnesses:

H. M. GEORGE, BERTHA M. FRENCH.

.Gopies at this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing theflcommissioner of LPatents,

. v Washington, D. C. 

